Baseball: Rebels drop series finale to Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Early miscues put the Rebels in a hole and the offense couldn’t muster much against the Gators pitching as No. 11 Ole Miss (23-6, 4-5 SEC) fell to Florida (13-16, 4-5 SEC) by a score of 4-0 in the series finale on Sunday.

Chris Ellis (1-2) took the loss for the Rebels, allowing four runs on four hits with four walks and a strikeout. Only three of the runs were earned after surrendering an unearned run in the first inning.

Danny Young (1-2) picked up the win for the Gators, allowing one hit with two walks and a strikeout through 5.1 innings of work before Johnny Magliozzi picked up his fifth save of the season with a scoreless 3.2 innings. Magliozzi allowed three hits and struck out one in his time on the mound.

“It’s a disappointing weekend,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “If you’re not going to score runs, then you have to pitch well and play defense well. We didn’t do those two things the last couple of days. We’ll have to get after Monday in practice and get ready for Memphis on Tuesday night and a good Vanderbilt team coming to our place next weekend.”

Florida got on the board in the first inning, taking advantage of Rebel miscues to get the early lead in the rubber game of the series. A two-out single to third and a throwing error on the play allowed Taylor Gushue to reach and take second before a fielding error at short in the next at bat put men at the corners. A wild pitch then brought Gushue home to give Florida the 1-0 lead.

The Gators looked to build on the lead in the second, using a walk and a double to put two men in scoring position before another walked loaded the bases with no outs. A flout to right field and a nice throw to the plate from Will Jamison kept the runners in place and allowed the Rebels to escape the inning with a double play in the next at bat, suffering no damage on the scoreboard.

Florida took advantage of another Ole Miss error in the third inning when a throwing error on a double to left field allowed Gushue to come home from first and left Justin Shafer at second. Gushue walked to open the inning and went first to third on the Shafer double, but a throwing error to second from left allowed Gushue to score.

The Gators then got a two-run home run from Vickash Ramjit to take the lead out to 4-0. Ole Miss then turned to the bullpen and called on right-hander Aaron Greenwood with the bases empty and one out on the board. Greenwood then got the Rebels out of the inning, but Ole Miss trailed by four runs at the end of three complete.

Ole Miss got a chance in the eighth inning with two men in scoring position and one out following a walk of Tanner Mathis and a ground-rule double from Austin Anderson. The Gators then got a foul fly and a strikeout to end the scoring threat as the Rebels left both men stranded.

The Rebels couldn’t must another rally as Florida claimed the series with the Sunday win.

Ole Miss will return to action on Tuesday night, traveling to face the Memphis Tigers at Autozone Park. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.